News

ZTE teases a new Nubia gaming phone

Answers directly to the Xiaomi Black Shark Helo

Published

October 28, 2018

Luigi Leonardo

For most of 2018, ZTE endured a heap of trouble with the United States government. Citing mistrust and cybersecurity, the government barred the company’s operations in the country. In effect, ZTE’s operations in the mobile industry screeched to a halt.

Despite the stoppage, the company still churned out plans for future releases. Now, after the penalty’s lift, ZTE is back in business. First order of business: teasing out oodles of upcoming phone models, including a new Nubia phone.

A sub-brand of ZTE, Nubia accesses a market hitherto untouched by its parent company — the gaming market. Recently, the Nubia Red Magic turned heads in the industry. Now, only a few months removed from the phone, Nubia is ready to launch another model in the same series.

Posted through Chinese social network Weibo, Nubia surprised users with a teaser for an upcoming release — the Red Magic 2.

Among other things, the Red Magic 2 offers incremental but substantial upgrades over its predecessor. From the little information proffered by the teaser, the smartphone will come with the new Snapdragon 845 processor and 10GB of RAM. For comparison, the original Red Magic had the Snapdragon 835 chipset and only 8GB of RAM.

Besides what’s under the hood, the Red Magic 2 will also get air and liquid cooling, 3D surround sound, and an enigmatic 4D gaming feature. Being a teaser, Nubia’s announcement limits the information it provides regarding these additional developments.

However, based on the information that we do know, the Red Magic 2 is a direct response to the Xiaomi Black Shark Helo. Announced just a few days ago, Xiaomi’s own gaming phone line also carries the new Snapdragon 845 and 10GB of RAM. Currently, the Black Shark Helo (and now, the Red Magic 2) is the world’s first phone with that amount of RAM.

Unlike Xiaomi, ZTE’s release is taking more time to marinate before launch. The teaser does not indicate when the phone will come out. For now, Nubia’s “coming soon” promise bodes well for the rebounding company.

Gaming

TNC Predator, Afreeca Freecs Fatal win Predator League APAC 2019

For Dota 2 and PUBG, respectively

Published

February 17, 2019

Marvin Velasco

After three long days of battle in Bangkok, Thailand from February 15 to 17, two champions have emerged from the two featured games of the Predator League in Asia Pacific 2019.

For Dota 2, it’s TNC Predator from the Philippines; and for PUBG, the champ is none other than Afreeca Freecs Fatal from South Korea.

TNC Predator wins the #DOTA2 championship of the #PredatorLeague 🏆🏆🏆 #PredatorGaming #GadgetMatchLIVE @predatorph pic.twitter.com/gaf3O1lAaI

— Marvin Velasco (@labacnotan) February 17, 2019

Their winnings come from a prize pool worth US$ 250,000. Each champion receives US$ 75,000 for their efforts, while the runners-up split the remaining pot.

Congrats Afreeca Freecs Fatal for winning the #PUBG finals of the #PredatorLeague 🏆 #PredatorGaming #GadgetMatchLIVE @predatorph pic.twitter.com/wSBuYLC2lC

— Marvin Velasco (@labacnotan) February 17, 2019

The grand event concluded after over 3,500 competing teams from 16 countries were eventually reduced to only 26 groups in Bangkok for the finals.

This was the Predator League’s second event in the APAC region. In 2018, it was held in Indonesia. Next year’s event will take place in the Philippines.

Cameras

Fujifilm X-T30 is a lightweight 4K mirrorless camera

Cheaper version of the X-T3

Published

February 17, 2019

Daniel Morial

Image credit: Fujifilm

After Canon‘s announcement of the new EOS RP, it’s now Fujifilm‘s turn to present their latest offering: the X-T30. Fuji’s new mirrorless interchangeable camera is the successor to 2017’s X-T20.

The X-T30 is positioned to be a cheaper variant of the flagship X-T3 camera, but they actually share many common features and specs. It’s got a compact and lightweight body at just 383g which looks similar to the premium model, but with some minor changes at the back. It’s got a focus joystick instead of a d-pad, but retains the touchscreen.

Speaking of, it’s a 2-way tilting LCD panel with 1.04 million dots. The EVF, on the other hand, is a 2.36-million-dot OLED color viewfinder with a near 100 percent coverage area.

Image credit: Fujifilm

Inside the camera is a 26.1-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor with an ISO range of 160 to 12800, which is expandable up to 51200, and backed by an X-Processor 4. With this, the X-T30 can shoot 30fps at 1.25x crop and 20fps without a crop using the electronic shutter. If you wish to use the mechanical shutter, the speed will be reduced to 8fps.

It has a hybrid AF system with 100 percent phase-detect AF, face detection, and eye tracking. Autofocus is also improved even in low-light. Focusing can be selected either through the touchscreen or joystick.

When it comes to video, the camera can shoot 4K at 30fps and up to 120fps when downscaled to 1080p. It’s capable of 10-bit recording and 4:2:2 DCI 4K video through the HDMI port. Fujifilm’s Film Simulation modes are also available.

The Fujifilm X-T30 will be available in March starting at US$ 899 for the body only. It’ll go up to US$ 999 when bundled with an XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS lens, or US$ 1,299 when bundled with an 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens.

MWC 2019

LG V50 ThinQ will be company’s first 5G smartphone

Arriving right before MWC 2019

Published

February 17, 2019

Marvin Velasco

We have yet another leak ahead of LG’s press conference happening right before Mobile World Congress 2019. This time, it’s for the company’s first 5G smartphone, the V50 ThinQ.

It comes in the form of a tweet by Evan Blass, who also spilled the beans on LG’s upcoming G8 ThinQ flagship a few days ago.

LG V50 ThinQ for Sprint 5G pic.twitter.com/TNLQsYPgPS

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 16, 2019

This confirms that the 5G smartphone LG will be showing off at MWC in Barcelona, Spain is the V50 ThinQ. Previously, we knew of such a handset coming on February 24, but we didn’t know what branding it would go under.

The leak, however, points to exclusivity with US carrier Sprint. It might also be a limited partnership, but we can more or less confirm that the V50 ThinQ will carry a Snapdragon 855 chipset in order to handle 5G signals.

In addition, we can see an extra camera on the front and back as compared to the G8 ThinQ’s setup. Sadly, it seems like the wide notch is sticking around.

Surprisingly, the V50 ThinQ is launching less than five months after the V40 ThinQ’s release. LG may be prioritizing its 5G rollout and needs an existing series to lay it on.

We’ll learn more once LG takes the stage on February 24 to reveal all its new devices, which might also include a foldable phone.